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Saving Heirloom Tomato Seeds

2.
Want to have a continuous supply of heirloom tomatoes at
home? Well, you can do so simply by saving heirloom
tomato seeds from your harvests!

3.
Learn how to preserve and store your heirloom tomato
seeds now by following the instructions in this
presentation.

4.
GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING
THE RIGHT TOMATOES
Before you can start saving your heirloom tomato seeds, you
need to pick the right tomatoes first. When selecting your
tomatoes, choose:
1. Open-Pollinated Tomatoes
They're natural and pesticide-free.
2. Fully Ripe Tomatoes
They contain more seeds.
3. Your Freshest & Best-Tasting Tomatoes
This way, the seeds you save will also grow like them.

5.
After selecting your tomatoes, you can now proceed to
saving heirloom tomato seeds for long-term storage.
Here are the 10 Easy Steps:

7.
STEP 2. SLICE THE TOMATOES
ACROSS THE EQUATOR
Always slice in this method so that the seeds will easily show.

8.
STEP 3. SCRAPE THE TOMATO SEEDS
INTO A GLASS JAR
Take out the seeds and the gel
and put them into a glass jar.
Don’t worry about separating
them yet.
Label the jars so you won’t
confuse the different varieties
you have.

9.
STEP 4. IMMERSE THE SEEDS
AND GEL IN WATER
Now submerge them in water
that's about one inch deep.
This encourages mold growth
that will separate the seeds
from the gel.

10.
STEP 5. WAIT FOR MOLD GROWTH
This usually happens within 3-5
days. White mold will appear on
the surface of the tomato
solution and it helps get rid of
the gel layer on the heirloom
seeds.

11.
STEP 6. DRAIN THE WATER
AND THE FLOATING SEEDS
Once the mold appears, go
ahead and drain the water and
the floating seeds. Just be
careful not to include the
sunken seeds because they’re
the good ones.

12.
STEP 7. CLEAN THE SEEDS
Put the remaining seeds in a
mesh strainer and rinse them
under running water to remove
the gel. They don’t have to be
perfectly clean, so no need to
press hard on them.

13.
STEP 8. DRY THE SEEDS
Spread the seeds on a paper
plate and wait for them to dry.
Once they’re dry enough, they
will easily come off the plate
and then you can finally store
them.

14.
STEP 9. STORE THE SEEDS
IN GLASS JARS
The most recommended storage
method is putting the seeds in
ziplock bags and then keeping
them inside tightly-sealed glass
jars. This prevents moisture
from affecting the seeds.
Sunlight and heat are also very
bad for the seeds, so the best
area to keep them is in the
fridge.

15.
STEP 10. ORGANIZE YOUR
HEIRLOOM SEED COLLECTION
Lastly, organize your seeds by
labeling them properly. Write
down the seed variety, storage
date and other pertinent
information.
It's also good to store together
the seeds that were harvested
during the same season since
they’ll most likely have the same
shelf life.

16.
So those are the 10 easy steps to saving heirloom tomato
seeds properly. Just follow the directions and you’ll have a
valuable tomato seed collection in no time!